I was doing a DE at PBIR yesterday. 3-4laps into the second session i drop three wheels off the pavement, saved it and kept going. I can't recall if i over-r3v'd or not -i doubt it- but my engine sounded differently from there on. I got black flagged so i came in to talk to the line guys. They tell me "good save, be careful" noticing that my engine was ticking louder than normal... I though "oh, i should add 1/2qt oil". Did so, but it might have been too late or the problem was elsewhere. The noise never away. I changed the oil a week ago before. 7qts of 10w30 mobil 1 synthetic.
I talked to a few e36M3 guys about it and concluded that i needed to go home (30min away) and look/adjust my valves. The engine had been on during all this troubleshooting time. Three minutes after i left the track, my engine made a nasty machine gun sound, clutch in, key off and killed it on the spot. I was ready for something like this :(
I just took the valve cover off and found this!
*Notice intake cam is nicely lubed... exhaust cam is completely dry and toasted..
^^ only one lobe shows a superficial defect.. like a grove.
^^ journal surface completely F'd
*melted valve cover with the spark plug gasket all heat deflected.
So,
Only my intake cam (the nicely lube'd one) had a plastic tray ontop... shouldn't the exhaust cam have one too? I should have looked in here when i bought the motor.. I tracked TWO YEARS!! like this :-x
Failure questions:
How can this happen?
Why is this cam not drenched in oil like the intake cam?
What should i do from here?
Rebuild or replace damaged parts.
If there is a possibility of valve damage i have no option but to take the head off and then i should rebuild the head. If not, i could probably get away with replacing the Exhaust Bearing Ledge and Exhaust Camshaft...that is if WE figure out the lubrication problem.
I have never worked on this (or any other) engine head. I'm a BSME, very mechanically abled and would like to take a crack at this with your help.
Let me know what you think i should do from here. Maybe i'm waaay off in my autopsy and conslusions and further looking is req.
Surprisingly i'm not very depressed about this whole situation.. this guy was kicking some major porsche ass in the morning :up:
TY.
-LR
I talked to a few e36M3 guys about it and concluded that i needed to go home (30min away) and look/adjust my valves. The engine had been on during all this troubleshooting time. Three minutes after i left the track, my engine made a nasty machine gun sound, clutch in, key off and killed it on the spot. I was ready for something like this :(
I just took the valve cover off and found this!
*Notice intake cam is nicely lubed... exhaust cam is completely dry and toasted..
^^ only one lobe shows a superficial defect.. like a grove.
^^ journal surface completely F'd
*melted valve cover with the spark plug gasket all heat deflected.
So,
Only my intake cam (the nicely lube'd one) had a plastic tray ontop... shouldn't the exhaust cam have one too? I should have looked in here when i bought the motor.. I tracked TWO YEARS!! like this :-x
Failure questions:
How can this happen?
Why is this cam not drenched in oil like the intake cam?
What should i do from here?
Rebuild or replace damaged parts.
If there is a possibility of valve damage i have no option but to take the head off and then i should rebuild the head. If not, i could probably get away with replacing the Exhaust Bearing Ledge and Exhaust Camshaft...that is if WE figure out the lubrication problem.
I have never worked on this (or any other) engine head. I'm a BSME, very mechanically abled and would like to take a crack at this with your help.
Let me know what you think i should do from here. Maybe i'm waaay off in my autopsy and conslusions and further looking is req.
Surprisingly i'm not very depressed about this whole situation.. this guy was kicking some major porsche ass in the morning :up:
TY.
-LR
Comment